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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Over at dawgsports.com, I've been handling most of the Q&As with rival sites heading into the games. With Nebraska coming up, there's been several sets of questions and answers going back and forth between the staffs at dawgsports and Corn Nation, the SB Nation site for Nebraska.

Monday, December 17, 2012

It's no secret that I love some Dawg round ball. It's also no secret that this season is coming out like a fat frozen turd. So with that in mind, we'll take a quick look at the situation before curling back up in to the fetal position and crying in a corner.

First, we have to deal with Mark Fox. He's shown some good as a coach, and a lot of bad lately. One problem I've worried about since the beginning is his offense. The triangle isn't exactly a good fit for a lot of the great athletes with underdeveloped skills and awareness you'll get in Georgia. Combine that with it's read and react sets that rely on veterans working together in unison, and it's just not an easy offense to go with in a southern college thanks to limited NCAA practice times and an ever-evolving roster as your players graduate just when they get things down pat. But the offense did work well in his second season, with Trey Thompkins as a do-it-all big man focal point, Jeremy Price working his wide butt on the low block, Travis Leslie attacking off the wing with Gerald Robinson, and savvy, smart PG Dustin Ware running the show. Getting that combination again isn't going to be easy.

So there's the offense we have to contend with, and on top of that, our piss poor recruiting. I'm not going to throw names under the bus, but our backcourt play has been horrendous, in part because Fox simply didn't recruit any until this past season. Our bigs have all been projects, and some just not SEC caliber at that. It's a disaster mix, and if Fox stays, he MUST figure out a way to start recruiting better. Adding JJ Frazier and Juwan Parker to Mann, Gaines, and KCP should help some, but we could use another SF that can shoot, and we have to start signing the best in Georgia. Well, not the best, but putting up a giant goose egg on top 150 in-state players when you have a dozen or so to choose from is absolutely unacceptable. Korey McCray should be available once Ben Howland gets done destroying UCLA, will Fox correct his biggest, earliest mistake? There's a dozen or more others coaching high school at a high level, or the game in some other way around Atlanta who'd also fit that bill of helping crack the long unopenable nut that is Atlanta hoops recruiting for Athens. If he stays, getting the ability to recruit Atlanta MUST be corrected, because the staff as currently constituted has shown time and again that it will fail at this necessary task.

OK, so what if the losses to Youngston St, Southern Miss, Iona, and others is just too much, and McGarity pulls the trigger. Then what? We need to spend some of our beloved profits, that's what.

The lack of willingness to fund a full fledged fix up of Foley Field is disturbing, but baseball isn't the proven money maker men's basketball can be (although with 30+ home games to sell tickets to and limited scholarships thanks to Title IX, it can be a good revenue producer instead of a revenue drain). And as shown the last time we were in the market for a head coach, we are willing to pay for proven quality (see the chase of Mike Anderson from Missouri before he got a raise and then got to go back to Arkansas). But it will cost.

The two most obvious names are Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens. Smart, who McGarity may have some familiarity with thanks to the year they were both at Florida, has a lot of positives. He's been an assistant at Florida, and at Clemson, so he's recruited Atlanta, and they know him. He's done well continuing, if not improving, on what Anthony Grant and Jeff Capel did at VCU before him. He can recruit, and he can coach. He also refused Illinois when they came offering a huge pay day. If we want Shaka Smart, we have to sell the hell out of the positives of the program (recruiting base, quality facilities, TV exposure, major market access, and the ability to build your way and be the legend instead of carrying on a legends' past), while showing our past problems (lack of support in all ways) is behind us. We also have to pay a salary close to Mark Richt. As said, he turned down slightly less than Richt makes from the Illini. Assuming Richt gets a pay bump over $3m per year, it can be assumed a near $3m annual salary (say $20 over 6 years or $25m over 8) has to be the starting point. But he could recruit, and coach, and with the right staff could easily flourish. There is no guarantee, but he seems like as strong a bet as any, if we can make him believe, and show a willingness to pay him (and his staff + other necessary expenses to strengthen the program).

Stevens, who took Butler to back-to-back national title games, has the coaching pedigree, but not the history down south to make instant credibility, somewhat similar to Fox in that regard. But where Fox made the mistake on staff, Stevens could address that just like a previously unknown Brian Gregory did at Georgia Tech, and his recruiting has shown the fruits of those staff decisions. Again, McCray should be available this summer as an assistant hire. Jonas Hayes could be kept to further solidify the relationship. Stevens has shown beyond the shadow of a doubt he can coach 'em up. Give him a staff to add the talent, and it could be a great match. Of course, why would he want to come south instead of look for the best job in the midwest? Again, we have to pay. He, like Smart, passed on Illinois. So the above mentioned $3m+ per year numbers are a starting point, and even then may not get him to jump. But he's going to be a name everyone discusses until he leaves Butler for a bigger conference gig.

After that, you are left with where we've been the last two years, looking at a mid major lottery ticket. Maybe they pan out like Billy Donovan did at Florida, or like Fox and Felton have here. It's a risk, but a cheaper risk. Josh Pastner has the recruiting chops, but hasn't shown the coaching acumen at Memphis. Plus they pay, so he's not likely much of a savings on the Stevens/Smart options. And you'd want to compliment his recruiting hustle with an expert Xs and Os assistant for in-game work.

Mick Cronin has done some good work at Cincinatti, and could be a viable option, and perhaps we can poach from another Big East school like one of the departing catholics (Buzz Williams at Marquette, Kevin Willard at Seton Hall?). Or maybe we pull in an old stop gap, like Lon Kruger from UNLV, Dave Fisher from San Diego St, among others, to hopefully just get us on a firmer footing for five years before we go back to the well for a long term fix at hoops head coach. Or maybe we can pull something no one sees coming out of left field, and rob a big name coach from a major conference school (ala LSU snagging Trent Johnson from Stanford, or South Carolina's hire of Frank Martin).

But we are about to find just how serious Georgia is about being a competitive men's basketball program. The pieces are there to be a yearly NCAA Tournament participant, if we ever quit shooting our own feet off. But will we? And are we willing to pay what it takes to get there? We'll see just how committed Fox is to turning this thing around. Or if he doesn't have the opportunity (don't be surprised if a retiring Adams and hands off McGarity give him one more year to fix the issues), then when we go looking, we'll know. Either we pay to finally step up and play with the big boys, or we keep cycling through the same messes that have put us in the punk position we've been stuck with for the majority of the past decade, and the majority of my life. I'm not optimistic, or as I said on dawgsports.com the other day, I'm "hopefully pessimistic". These next 3 months are going to be hard.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

I was gonna do something about my thoughts on guys leaving early for the NFL, but Bernie beat me to it. Read his story, and you'll get my thoughts basically word for word. I'm 50/50 on big Kwame going, but as the man says, the family history is what it is, and it's hard to disagree with them that a DL only has so many snaps in their body and may as well get paid for them asap since you can go back and get your degree later.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Who has two thumbs and is about to join John Jancek as DB coach for the University of Tennessee (oh, and yes, that means quite possibly the worst assistant coach of the Richt era is running the show for the Vol defense)?

So Arkansas takes the HC of what is currently the best program in the Big Ten but consider the flip side of this SEC dominance coin......Tannercee.
Now Vol fans will tell you that Lane Kiffikins was their first choice just like media will tell you that Obama ain't a Communist. Kifficakes was low....low down on their list and was a desperate hire. Then there is Diddy's Baby Boy..............how many people said no to Tannercee before they finally...reluctantly....disappointingly hired Double D? Now it appears that choice numbers one, two, and three are not all that into the mystique of inbreeding and illiteracy.

Of course Gruden said no that was to be expected but Gundy with a straight up no and now it would appear that Strong is a no go as well?

I think the problem is where Tannercee is shopping:
Gruden gets paid a lot to do nothing so why would he want to get paid about the same to do a lot more? Gundy is at his Alma mater and OK ST has that oil money behind it. Then there is Strong....if he says no I can't blame him. If it is true that black coaches don't get as long to fix things then why would you take a job that is:
a) in shambles,
b) is impatient with white, SEC legacy coaches, and
c) most likely has unrealistic expectations.

Oh well there is always Petrino but no....y'all are too noble for that up there in Hillbilly Heaven.....so who will it be? Perhapse we could offer a recommendation?

I'm sort of stunned and a little confused by this one. I assume Arkansas wants to get back to their ground and pound roots. The success of Saban and Miles as Big Ten guys coaching the speed of the SEC may have inspired Arkansas.

What I find most interesting is that Wisconsin would have to be considered one of the three or four elite Big Ten jobs while Arkansas is at best the seventh best job in the SEC. I guess the superiority of the SEC wins out again.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Ahhhhhemmmmm.................... so as the title promised your complete position by position breakdown of the impending title game.

AT ALL POSITIONS FROM TOP TO BOTTOM AS WELL AS ALL COACHES, CHEERLEADERS, BAND MEMBERS, EQUIPMENT MANAGERS, MASCOTS, AND TEAM BUS DRIVERS ALABAMA IS BETTER!

Not just a little bit better......not just sort of better.....it is not even close. There does not exist a talent gap so much as their exists a talent Grand Canyon. The speed gap as well.....it is not so much a gap as a vast expansive chasm on the ocean floor that were a ship able to dive that deep would most likely hit the center of the world.

The only reason to watch this game is:

a) Yankee tears are delicious, and

b) Should ND accidentally kick a field goal early in the game Brent Munsberger will die of total blood loss to the brain as his entire blood supply will flood into his penis for the first time since he died in 1986. The Munsberger corpse (that has been paraded out by ABC in perfect taxidermy preservation) will explode in an eruption of embalmed fluids and semen. It will be the first time Kirk Herbstreit has been covered in embalming fluid.......as for semen it may be the first time that day but probably not.﻿

I must admit that as I sat in the Georgia Dome mere moments after Tree returned the blocked kick for a TD...........I BELIEVED. In fact in my head I had the story title all ready to go:
"UGA To National Title Game......Sports and Grits Says- Your Welcome Dawg Nation".
Needless to say we would have taken full credit for the post 2010 turn around, the improved recruiting, the changes to S&C, etc. How you say? Simple we held a complacent coach and program's feet to the fire.

Of course all of that fell apart. In any other circumstance I would tell you that there is something romantically Southern about a David vs Goliath fight in which the little guy holds his own and pushes the mighty to the limit. In this circumstance I can't find anything other than an empty feeling. The drive home a year ago was much easier than this one. In the past it has been an early season loss or something that we did not realize was so crucial at the time that has kept us from the NT. This year it was a single play. I have not watched any sort of replay and I understand that the ball was tipped. At my angle and from what everyone around me saw the ball did not look tipped. It simply looked like they should have spiked the ball, did not, threw it short, and blew it.

Murray is what he is......a good QB that we over hype. He has the tools to come out next season and be a Heisman candidate. Right now....he is a talented QB who has a tendency to panic in tough situations. However, even that is not a constant because he looked very poised on the last drive.....a far cry from his look in the SC and Missouri games.

On the matter of Bobo he had a good game. He should have spiked the ball. You spike it with 15 seconds left and you get two plays....two thought out plays....two plays. The point was made that had the ball gone into the endzone and been incomplete they would have had another play......I concede that.....but obviously Bama got set enough to tip the ball so in the end it was a decision that is reflective of Bobo's immaturity as a play caller.

On the matter of Grantham. I have seen the South Carolina game as more on Richt for the suspensions than on Grantham. The third quarter and for that matter the entire second half of the SECCG falls on Grantham. How could you not adjust to stop the run? How could you not understand that after three possessions of nothing but runs, the third being one you stopped, how could you not anticipate the play action?

On the matter of Richt. There is a common mis-conception about our site. That is that we hate Richt. We don't.....we just hate losing, we hate moral victories, we hate weak sauce excuses, and did we mention we hate to see Georgia lose?
Richt and his program stand at a crucial intersection.......Do we build off of this or do we allow it to haunt us? Is this our SECCG game loss in the same way that Alabama lost to Florida a few years back before taking the Conference over? Does this push Richt to desperately seek the validation of his legacy with a NT or does he just Joe Cool-shrug this one off like so many before? The emotion at the post game presser needs to carry over. No matter what you thought of the timing of the question it was valid. Chuck Oliver did not question any one's effort.......he questioned if Richt and Murray's best effort was just not good enough........he question if Richt can ever win the big one.......sorry coach-you may not have liked it but it is a real question and the answer as of now is NO!

First things first....we need to make a statement against Nebraska! We need to own them for four quarters, roll that into recruiting, and then come out like a bunch of rabid junk yard dawgs against Clampsun next year.

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